Grace
by Solar-Priestess
Summary: For as long as anyone can remember, Zelda has adventured alongside the promised land's hero Link. But now that she's been sent into the Sacred Realm with a healing Ganondorf, a new adventure awaits the pair. How will she manage the discovery of her past lives, as well as Ganon's companionship? ZelGan fic. Rated M for probable eventual smut.
1. Fate

Twilight has fallen the land yet again, as nature demands it, the sun resting gently on the rolling hills of Hyrule like a blanket of golden glow settling softly on the grassy terrain.

Three bodies can be seen in the distance, they are small and infinitesimal in the grand scheme of the beautiful Hyrulian landscape, but in this moment they are vast and jubilant. A great war has just been ended at the sharpened tip of a fabled hero's sword, a manic dictator put to an eternal slumber, and an immortal beast from the great beyond slain once more.

These three infinitesimal bodies travel eastward, the Twilight Princess ready to return to her now broken home. However, a new fire burned within her, a sudden willingness and determination to fix what she felt she had broken. A sad parting indeed, yet, they travel on, with lighter steps, floating somewhat magically on the endorphins in their veins.

...However, another body, a darker, heavier, more capable body, heaves forward some paces western. Ganondorf, laying exactly where he had been slain moments prior, lifts his head up and squints through the blood that burns under his eyelids. Coughing up a vicious mixture of blood and acid in his gullet, those ashy hands meekly grasp the twilight-stained grass beneath him and he pulls himself forward. Dragging himself across the soft green-golden field, he stains the mystical landscape with his rusty crimson blood. A forest loomed in the distance, _this_, he thought in muddled coherence, _is safety...this is where I must go_.

Meanwhile, those bodies not so far eastern, are wiping their tears in final goodbyes. A tired and war-ridden Zelda turns to fight her tears, and between cringes and wiping the salty liquor from her eyes, there is a dark blot in the distance. Solemnly she begins to stare, feeling somewhat empty in this fleeting moment, looking down at the triforce that adorned her hand. _What will we do without your other third, my gift, what will we do? _The princess thought about the triforce and what a poetic fate it was, to have it broken.

Suddenly, that darken blot began to move, a slow lurching motion in the direction of the trees a few hundred feet north. Zelda could feel her heart begin to race. Ganon was on the move.

_ He's retreating to the safety of the forest, _she thought_, he's going to rest until he can retire to the depths of a nether-hell where he might take on a new form. He's going to continue the cycle. He's going to live **again!**_

_No. This will not happen. Not again. I forbid it with all the might the goddesses may bless upon me. _Her legs, still trembling under the pressure of over-use, began to dash toward the slow-moving blemish on the perfect Hylian scenery. Unthinking, she left behind the Twilight Princess and the Hero, undoubtably still lost in their own melancholy good-byes.

Her hands flew upwards and flipped a hood over her head, it did an acceptable job keeping the hair out of her face. She began to gain more momentum as she flew downhill to the bleeding Ganondorf. She closed her eyes for only a moment and felt fleeting, flying, and free. Never before had Zelda felt more relevant to this mortal world, more capable.

"Ganon! Halt! You have nowhere to run! There is no shelter for you here!" Her voice was somewhat hoarse, and carried by the gentle wind. The dark lord tried desperately to lift himself, only to fumble under his own weight, into a mat of grass dampened by his own blood.

The pale princess fell to her knees and, with every ounce of magic she could muster in her weakened condition, flipped the king of evil over onto his back, only to gasp not in disgust, but in horror.

This was no monster, no vile beast, this was the shell of a man who could no longer bear the wounds of this earthly vessel. He coughed once more and stained the faded white of Zelda's silk gloves.

"No...let me die...I must die once more..." His voice gurgled and squelched as the noise from his throat passed through the mucus and blood in his mouth.

"You cannot die. You know this. I will break this accursed cycle, Gannondorf, I will-" the princess tried to prop her hands under his large abdomen, perhaps to pull him as far as she could Hyrule-bound, but the Guerdo-man weakly threw his hands against her chest and pushed with a feeble might. One might even call it "laughable."

"No...! Leave me be...! Leave me to die in peace..." His voice became more panicked and the triforce upon his hand began to glisten, much like the twilight upon the water. Zelda opened her mouth to speak once more before she realized that, she too, had a glowing triangle upon her magic-wielding hand.

And as quickly as the moment began, time almost seemed to slow. The noise of the rippling wind became distant and muffled, her body trembled with an almost-electric power, voices in the distance pleaded to her. Voices she recognized to be the Twilight-Princess and the Hero, but Zelda would not have the chance or the power to turn quickly enough to face them.

In that moment she could only see and feel, paralyzed she became fixated on Ganondorf's amber eyes. The hardened lines in his face relaxed, the corners of his mouth nearly up-turned, almost as if he were greeting death with a friendly face. His serenity, to Zelda's confusion, seemed to wash over her paralyzed body in a calming light.

She inhaled for what felt like hours, he lungs expanding to a capacity to which she felt they may burst. The twilight soon became a bursting, burning, all consuming flame that surrounded her and the dark lord. She tried to cringe in fear of this light, it burned into her very soul. Her eyes once more found those eyes of the thief-king, and he locked a peaceful gaze with her.

Blood no longer spilling from his mouth, his words were now clearer than ever before. His voice oozing out like honey dripping down sugarcane.

"Do not fear the great beyond, Princess Zelda. Look on with me, let us enjoy the moment of it's splendor. For these moments are few and fleeting. Look on, Princess Zelda..."

The dark man turned his head and watched on as the blinding light began to swirl and twist into different colors and shapes, it was beautiful and terrifying.

"What's going on...?" Zelda managed to yelp, not as a matured Princess, but as a frightened young woman. She was met with no response, as Ganon just continued to gaze at this great display of colors and light.

But colors soon became sounds as the chirping of birds began to melt into a medley of last months piano recital. A metronome marching in time with the soft hush of sand hitting a marble floor. A maids laughter gently caressing the sharp tinkling of a shattering mirror. These noises all merged together into a glorious symphony of the senses, and all at once Zelda experienced a sense of everything-ness. A feeling of whole-completion she felt almost unworthy of.

Her skin raised at a gentle wind that quickly became a violent breeze, and she recoiled into herself somewhat as the feeling of weightlessness overcame her.

The evil king's hand firmly grabbed her battered fingers, not violently or painfully, but almost reassuringly.

"So be it, young maiden. This realm will surely test your wisdom as well as my patience. But if Din should have me meet this fate with you, then I will accept this task. Do not fear death, Princess, for we are forever, and you know we cannot die."

The fear had not been absent, merely delayed, as the light began to fade. Zelda began to hyperventilate and tremor under the shock of these rapid moments. She would not give up the man's hand, however, it would seem he had no intention of letting this young princess go any time soon. She stared with a fierce intensity into those honey-colored eyes, pleading for answers to questions she could not muster.

"I asked to you to let me wither in peace" he sighed "this is the price you pay for trying to squander in our futile game of cat and mouse. Wisdom and Power journeying through the sacred realm...but how will Courage manage by himself all alone back in that mortal world? That poor child surely will not last but a week." He almost seemed to grin.

The light was now but merely a flicker between the two bodies, a foreboding darkness now pooling around them. It was a heavy darkness, it almost seemed to pull on her eyelids and rest in her chest. Zelda soon found her beaten body laying down parallel to the Guerdo-King's. Her sudden exhaustion seemed to stamp out the flickers of fear in her stomach, she fought the sleepiness with all her might.

"I can't...I..can't..." the words barely carried on her breath. He turned to face her once more.

"You have no reason to fear, Princess...where we are going I cannot harm you. I have no means to your demise in this world. Sleep now, I demand nothing less than that." His voice was now as stern as he could manage and Zelda, with her vision quickly fading, could see his lips upturn.

That was the last thing she saw before the darkness engulfed them. Sleep caressed her body sweetly and promised her dreams of honeysuckle and milk tea.


	2. Pride

Satin sheets and pillowcases of silk gently cradled the princesses aching body. Her head swam in the foggy haze of tiredness, shaking the cobwebs out of her head and the sleep-sand out of her eyes. But this was a calming warmth, a familiar bed, the light filtered in through fair lavender curtains and the young woman opened her eyes slightly to squint towards that window she knew. It was another morning, yet her body was so sore...so shaken...from...

And all too quickly fear began to overflow from her core, Zelda sat up like a box spring in that bed. Her eyes scanned the the little room quickly, she knew it as her own. But there was no comfort here, she could remember a blinding light and marvelous colors and feelings, she could remember Ganon.

And there he was.

Sitting in a reading chair in the easten corner of the room, the dark lord slouched tiredly, breathed heavily, not in quite sleep but in exhaustion. He perked up his gaze to meet her, the light of the outdoors seemed to get lost in his darkened Geurdo skin. He rose feebly, Zelda noted, with no signs of the major wounds she was certain he endured no so long prior.

"You're finally awake, listen to me carefully and I will spare you the details of our recent occurrence. For the moment, just the important notable bits..." his voice was certainly quiet for the large and loud man she knew, but it still seemed to shake and boom in the little royal room.

Zelda shook with anxiety, she opened her mouth to speak but only small yelps could find their way past her lips. As she tried to rise out of the satin-laid bed, her legs failed her and she tumbled to the beautifully aged floor of redwood.

"What have you done?" She finally managed with a new courage at the dark lord. "How did we...end up here? In my room?" Her eyes would not meet his, just scanning the small cracks in the wooden floor.

Ganon approached with somewhat of a hobble, notably he was not in his best condition, but Zelda could not see his ailment. He spoke louder this time, more coherent, as if to grab and hold her attention with grave urgency.

"Hush, child. No...you're not a child any longer. You're a young woman now..." his eyes scanned the bistre-haired maiden sprawled across the floor. Finally, her eyes shot up to meet his.

"You're act of defiance, to try and stop my demise into the this world, was unprecedented, yet there is a reason I am sent here in death. Do not be fooled by appearances, this is the Sacred Realm, spoken of only in legends, seen by few. You do not belong here, young Zelda..."

The use of her name sent chills through the maiden's body. It sounded foreign coming out of his mouth, like a language she could not understand spoken in low voice that dripped down her back. This news, however, was even more chilling. This was the Scared Realm? The vast fields of endlessness spoken to children as tales of old? Her youth told her that this was not probable, but her wisdom told her that this was very, very possible. She spoke up at him calmly, trying to regain a sense of grace she knew she could muster. She could persevere, she knew she was strong enough.

"Then why am I here? This...is not what I imagined..." She began to sit up, wiping the dust from her gloves, which she noticed were no longer blood-stained.

"Your triforce and mine are bound together by something greater than ourselves. When you touched my broken body as I laid dying, a power surged through you did it not?"

She could remember a electrifying jolt of energy course through her veins, it shook her violently, as she recalled. "Yes I do remember."

"And an overflow of clarity washed upon myself, yes. One might even call it 'wisdom.' Our souls are bound to these damn golden seals. I did not take you with me, no, but you had no choice but to surrender to the triforce's power. Like magnets hurdling towards one another. There was no other way, I tried to warn you, Princess. Now come, let me explain some important things to you." He outstretched his ashy hand to help the anxious girl to her feet.

For a moment Zelda could not help but stare at his hand, this unusual act of kindness coming from the king of thieves. _This is a man_, she thought, t_hey wrote about in books and lore, a man who was described as a vile and vicious monster with no regard for emotions or sympathy. Yet here he is, opening his arm to me, opening his information to me. This beast from the great beyond? He looks merely like a man. Surely I will be murdered if I am not careful...and yet...I feel it would almost be unwise __**not**__ to trust him._

So the Princess took the thieve's hand and he lifted her effortlessly into the air and onto her feet, almost as if she were a small child being flung into the air by her caretaker.

"Why does it appear that we are still within my room back at Hyrule Castle? I thought the Sacred Realm was vast nothingness...or so the lore would tell us."

But the King had not yet let go of the wisdom-bearer's hand. His eyes were fixated on their locked fingers, his were giant and a toasted grey, heres were much smaller and a raw ivory. The contrast was almost symbolic, but of what he was not certain.

"You don't recoil at my touch. You don't sting my face with your fiery palm or spit in my direction and curse my name. Willingly you took my hand and this is...a very rare occurrence." Ganon looked then into Zelda's steely blue eyes with a frightening intensity, seeming to look not at her but beyond her spirit. "I realize now...that this is because in this life we had little qualm, didn't we? You know not the sting of my backhand or the weight of my sword against your skin. No, my quarrel was never with you, my princess, only with the Hero. As is our destiny." The words seemed to resonate with the King, his grimace was not one of usual anger, but of a heavy regret.

But these words angered Zelda, she whipped her hand back to her body and quickly used it to point accusingly at Gannondorf.

"I may know not your backhand, but I know the feeling of your essence within my body. I know the feeling of having my very self invaded by another. To be possessed, to see and hear but not to think and speak. I know how it feels to be your puppet, I know the feeling of darkness within me. The impurities I will never be able to wash away by you." Her words were venomous arrows pointed square for the mans softened face.

Quietly, Ganondorf listened to the Hyrulian's speech, his expression contorted into something Zelda could not recognize. A longing of sorts, a sad desire, his hands idly groped the air as they rested at his hips and he spoke with a reposeful intensiveness.

"You're right. I cannot take back those moments, I cannot give that time back to you. But you need to know that I never filled your heart with darkness. There is a darkness in all of us. I just brought it to your forefront. And I will not apologize for doing the bidding of the Goddess Din, as I cannot apologize for my fate, but I will express my remorse to your 'impurities', Princess Zelda. I am sorry you do not feel as though you are pure, but truly you were never pure to begin with...but by Nayru's love is your soul bright."

Zelda felt a hush overtake her then. She consumed these words and contemplated them, what that man saw while his being pushed through her inner mind...she could only imagine. Zelda would not fight his speech, as she knew he was truly right. She was not a pure flower, she fought this battle in her mind time and time again. She wanted to be the best representative she could be for her family, for the Goddesses, to always do what was right and what was wise. To always live by an admirable moral code, but there was undoubtably a contamination within her. A voice that quietly tempted her from time to time with promises of grandeur and pleasure. It made her mouth water gluttonously, and her body tremble with sexual desire. Her hands would sometimes shake with a rage unbecoming of her, or she would desire that which was not hers to long after.

"Then I propose this truce, King Ganondorf, between you and I for the duration of our journey through this realm. Understandably, I have many questions which I expect you to answer promptly and with full detail. Should you betray me I will not be frightened to fight you-"

"As I said before, Princess Zelda, I have no intention to harm you here. My wrangle is not with you. Ask your questions, I will do my best to inform you of any detail, both major and minor. You are useless not only to me but to yourself if you are not well-informed and ready to face the long road ahead. It would be easier to just crush your skull under my sword than to drag a half-wit around" he spoke for the first time now as the warlord he was, a mischievous smile crept upon his face as dry humor oozed from his sharpened canines "besides, fighting isn't very lady-like now is it, Princess?"

Zelda's face flushed hot with blood and she furrowed her brow in retort.

"I am not a lady, I am a leader."

Ganondorf inched closer, Zelda's body tensing quickly to his heat against her cheek as he quietly murmured in her ear.

"It gives me great pleasure, as I am sure I'm the first to inform you, that you, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, are neither whole lady nor whole leader. But a fantastic mixture of the two. Let your heart swell with pride."

Swiftly, the warlord stepped back from the young maiden, respecting her breathing room and looked down upon her with nearly unseeable grin.

Zelda, lips upturned slightly, stared down at the redwood once more. For once she let the little darkness in her, the darkness that Ganon insisted lived in all, overtake her, and her heart did swell with a prideful demeanor. She relished greatly that fleeting moment.

The duo promptly exited the little royal room and walked down the spiral stairs, Ganon clinging roughly to the railing to keep his hobbling to a minimum.

Zelda thought over his words once more, about being not only a lady but a leader as well. She was certain nobody had ever brought this concept to her mind prior. It had never occurred to her that she was not wearing two separative hats, but one which was grand and splendid. Men looked at her as an object of affections, she adorned herself with corsets and lace, braided her hair and never spoke out of term to make her more describable. A worthy candidate of marriage. Yet officials and the majority of her ruling land saw her as a powerful figurehead, not a person with fears and desires but an iron fist that would swat away the rallying nations and gently caress the motherland. But in reality she was neither, she was Princess Zelda of Hyrule, a powerful and desirable maiden, who could not only rule a nation but make men and women desire the supple curves of her breasts. This revelation was small but significant, she wondered how the King of evil possibly could have came to this conclusion before she had, and why it made her feel so whole.

Her train of thought was broken, however, when that same dark lord fumbled on one of the last stairs nearly toppling downwards. The wisdom-bearer grabbed his muscular shoulder with both hands and helped yank him back upright. He muttered out a simple "thank you" on an exasperated sigh and they finished their descent.

"What is it that ails you? I see no wounds or damage...perhaps I can..." her left hand began to glow faintly with a blue healing magic, the tips of her fingers twinkled with energy.

"No, there is no damage that you can fix here, Princess. You see, this is not my body, not a mere mortal vessel, but a manifestation of my very soul. It is my soul that needs to heal, something even you cannot mend."

Zelda's eyes widened in astonishment. "Your soul? Does that mean that I am not longer a mortal body as well? Just another manifestation?"

"Yes, indeed it does. Assuredly, we will take on many forms while we journey here. Forms of past lives and desires. Sometimes we can help them, sometimes we cannot. We can only carry off with the hand we are given." He nodded reassuringly to the aghast young woman.

"Is that why the legends do not depict you with one clear face? Because you have taken on many forms within this realm?"

"I suppose that is a crude way of explaining my non-permanent form. But yes, that does have a great majority of relevance. Never drastically different, just different varieties of the same model."

"Will I take on different forms?"  
"It is likely, but you need not fear it. As I said, it's never drastic, just subtle tweaks in your grand appearance. You asked before why it appears that we are in Hyrule Castle, this is because the surroundings are changing _their_ form. "

"So we will only ever be within this Castle? What if I were to step outside?"

"No, not like that. We will undoubtably venture many different settings, but the surroundings will never be someplace that we do not already know. You will never enter a house that you or I have never entered. Never walk a path neither one of us recognizes. The surroundings are also manifestations of souls. But more like projections."

"Can we influence these projections?"

"Yes, I do believe it is possible but it is an art I have not yet mastered."

"How will we know when the projections begin to change?"

And in that moment the Guerdo King lifted his head and snickered towards the western window of the Castle enterance.

"See for yourself, my dear. But never fret, as I will never be far behind you."

"What do you mean by-?"

Before the Princess could finish a mesh of sound began to ring within her ears. She whipped her head to the western window and a familiar blinding light shattered the glass and spilled inside the Hyrule walls.

Doubled over with sensory overload, Zelda tried to remain calm this time. The colors began to swirl as they had before, paralysis began to stiffen her limbs once more but she looked up at the towering man above her. He stared off into the blinding colors, basking in their splendor.

And as quickly as the beauty invaded, there was nothing left but darkness and sleep.


End file.
